45 RPMs 106: Mary Hopkin ~ Those Were the Days

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Mary Hopkin ~ Those Were the Days 

45 RPM record 

photo by Styrous® 
    

    

Today is the birthday of Welsh singer, Mary Hopkin, who bust forth internationally with her wonderful song, Those Were the Days. I was in my early twenties when it did; I remember thinking what a marvelous take on what it must be like to be old and review your life. I danced madly to the bouncy, lively beat of it. I still fondly look back at the song and those early days of my life but now that I am there, I have a totally different perspective on it, my life and my aspirations. As they say, "hindsight is 20/20".      

 

Those Were the Days was composed by Boris Fomin in 1924 but credited to Gene Raskin, who put English lyrics to Fomin's Russian romance song Dorogoi dlinnoyu, which originally had lyrics by the poet Konstantin Podrevsky. With Raskin's lyrics, the song is an evaluation of youth and romantic idealism, reminiscing about drinking, singing, and dancing in a tavern, imagining a rosy future which has not been fulfilled. Although it has a joyous feeling, it is wistful and, well, a little melancholy. It conveys the same feeling as the Peggy Lee song, Is That All There Is? I love that song as well. With both I feel, "Then let's keep dancing!"         

 

Hopkin did some backup singing on albums by Tom Paxton, Ralph McTell, David Bowie (Low), Bert Jansch, the Radiators from Space, Thin Lizzy, Carmen, the Sarstedt Brothers, Osibisa, Sparks, Hazel O'Connor and Elaine Paige.      

 

The "B" side of the record is the song Turn, Turn, Turn written by Pete Seeger in 1959.  The lyrics – except for the title, which is repeated throughout the song, and the final two lines – consist of the first eight verses of the third chapter of the biblical Book of Ecclesiastes. The song was originally released in 1962 as To Everything There Is a Season on the folk group the Limeliters' album Folk Matinee, and then some months later on Seeger's own The Bitter and the Sweet album.          

 

 

 

Mary Hopkin ~ Turn, Turn, Turn 

45 RPM record 

photo by Styrous® 

 

Tracklist:

Side 1:

A - Those Were The Days, written by Gene Raskin - 5:05

Side 2:

B - Turn, Turn, Turn, written by Pete Seeger - 2:48

Companies, etc.

    Mastered At – Capitol Studios, New York City
    Pressed By – Capitol Records Pressing Plant, Scranton
    Manufactured By – Apple Records, Inc.
    Published By – TRO
    Published By – Melody Trails, Inc.

 Credits:

 

      Producer – Paul McCartney

 

Notes:

Scranton Label Variant: "Mfg. by Apple Records, Inc." on 'B Side' label at bottom, and missing from 'A side'.
The reverse Scranton label variant here - Mary Hopkin - Those Were The Days

A: T.R.O. Organization
B: Melody Trails Inc. (BMI)

Runouts have a combination of both stamped and etched characters. "[IAM logo]" is stamped.

Barcode and Other Identifiers         

    Rights Society: BMI
    Pressing Plant ID (Stamped in runouts): "IAM" in triangle logo
    Matrix / Runout (Label side A): X46416
    Matrix / Runout (Label side B): X46417
    Matrix / Runout (Runout side A, variant 1): 45-X46416-P1 #2 45-70293-P1 [IAM logo]
    Matrix / Runout (Runout side B, variant 1): 45-X46417-P1 45-46417-P1 [IAM logo]
    Matrix / Runout (Runout side A, variant 2): 4̶5̶-̶7̶0̶2̶9̶3̶-̶P̶1 45-X46416-P1 #3 [IAM logo]
    Matrix / Runout (Runout side B, variant 2): 45-X46417-P1#3 45-46417-P1 [IAM logo]
    Matrix / Runout (Runout side A, variant 3): 4̶5̶-̶7̶0̶2̶9̶3̶-̶P̶1 45-X46416-P1 #2 [IAM logo]
    Matrix / Runout (Runout side B, variant 3): 45-X46417-P1 [IAM logo] 45-46417-P1
    Matrix / Runout (Runout side A, variant 4): 45-̶7̶0̶2̶9̶3̶-̶P̶1 45-X 46416-P1 #4 [IAM logo]
    Matrix / Runout (Runout side B, variant 4): 45-4617-T2
    Matrix / Runout (Runout side A, variant 5): 45-̶7̶0̶2̶9̶3̶-̶P̶1 45-X 46416-P1 [IAM logo]
    Matrix / Runout (Runout side B, variant 5): 45-X46417-P1 45-46417-P1 [IAM logo]
    Matrix / Runout (Runout side A, variant 6): 45-̶7̶0̶2̶9̶3̶-̶P̶1 45-X 46416-P1 #8 [IAM logo]
    Matrix / Runout (Runout side B, variant 6): 45-X46417-P1 #7 45-46417-P1 [IAM logo]
    Matrix / Runout (Runout side A, variant 7): 45-̶7̶0̶2̶9̶3̶-̶P̶1 45-X 46416-P1 #8 [IAM logo]
    Matrix / Runout (Runout side B, variant 7): 45-̶7̶0̶2̶9̶4-̶P̶1 46417 45-X-46417-P1
    Matrix / Runout (Runout side A, variant 8): 45-46416-T2 [IAM logo]
    Matrix / Runout (Runout side B, variant 8): 45-46417-T2 [IAM logo]
    Matrix / Runout (Runout side A, variant 9): 45-̶7̶0̶2̶9̶3̶-̶P̶1 45-X 46416-P1 #3 [IAM logo]
    Matrix / Runout (Runout side B, variant 9): 45-X46417-P1 #6 45-46417-P1 [IAM logo]
    Matrix / Runout (Runout side A, variant 10): 45-7̶0̶2̶9̶3̶-̶P̶1̶ 45-X46416-P1#2 [IAM logo]
    Matrix / Runout (Runout side B, variant 10): 45-X46417-P1#5 4̶5̶-̶7̶0̶2̶9̶4̶-P1 [IAM logo]
    Matrix / Runout (Runout side A, variant 11): 45-7̶0̶2̶9̶3̶-̶P̶1̶ 45-X46416-P1 [IAM logo]
    Matrix / Runout (Runout side B, variant 11): 45-X46417-P1#5 4̶5̶-̶7̶0̶2̶9̶4̶ -P1 [IAM logo]

Mary Hopkin – Those Were The Days
Label: Apple Records – 1801
Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single, Scranton Pressing
Country: US
Released: Aug 26, 1968
Genre: Rock, Pop, Folk, World, & Country
Style: Chanson, Pop Rock, Folk         

        

        

        

        

Viewfinder links:       

        
David Bowie    

Boris Fomin       

the Limeliters         

Hazel O'Connor         

Osibisa          

Elaine Paige       

Tom Paxton  

Pete Seeger         

Sparks       

Thin Lizzy       

         
     
Net links:       

         

         

         

        
     
YouTube links:       
        

Mary Hopkin ~ Those Were the Days         

Sergey Lazarev ~ Dorogoi dlinnoyu (The long road)       
        
         

         

What the hell! Let's keep dancing!

        

Styrous® ~ Sunday, April 3, 2026 

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Hazel O'Connor articles/mentions

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Tom Sankey ~ The Golden Screw           

      

     

      

     

     

      

      

     

     

Hazel O'Connor     

date & photographer unknown    

     

     

      

      

     

     

      

      

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

20,000 Vinyl LPs 300: Tom Sankey ~ The Golden Screw

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Tom Sankey ~ The Golden Screw

vinyl LP front cover 

album design by Loring Eutemey

cover photo by Bert Andrews 

photo of album cover by Styrous®

Today is the birthday of Tom Sankey who was was an American folk singer, playwright and actor born on July 28, 1933, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is only known for one thing, the off Broadway production of The Golden Screw. That's all, nothing else!      

Tom Sankey ~ The Golden Screw

vinyl LP back cover 

album design by Loring Eutemey

back cover photos by Bob Siegler

photo of album back cover by Styrous®

The Golden Screw was a folk rock musical documenting the progress of a fictional folk singer, Bob Dylanesque, who starts from folk music roots to sell out to almost achieving the height of commercialization. A theme echoed many times since then in music and theater, a case in point is one of my favorite films from 1980, Breaking Glass with Hazel O'Connor.    

 

 

Hazel O'Connor ~ Breaking Glass 

film still

 

 

The complete score for the show was recorded by Sankey on Atco Records and was the first rock theatrical recording of its kind. Hair is cited as the first rock musical but the Golden Screw opened nine months before it; although Screw does sound more folk than rock.    

 

The show's band was called The Inner Sanctum and featured Kevin Michael - Lead Guitar, Gerry Michael - drums, Vince Taggart - rhythm guitar and Frank Thumhart - bass guitar. (link below).             

 

Loring Eutemey, the designer of The Golden Screw album cover, also designed or illustrated vinyl LP covers for many other musicians (link below).          

 

 

Tom Sankey ~ The Golden Screw

vinyl LP back cover detail

album design by Loring Eutemey

detail photo of album back cover by Styrous®

The Golden Screw opened on January 30, 1967 and only had 40 performances. It was directed by James Grove, produced by Paul Stoudt, with scenery and costumes by C. Murawski and a cast of  only four: Tom Sankey, Janet Day, Patrick Sullivan and Murray Paskin. The musicians were Tom Sankey (autoharp), Jack Hopper (guitar) and members of The Inner Sanctum: Kevin Michael (lead guitar), Gerry Michael (drums), Vince Taggart (rhythm guitar). The script was published as The Golden Screw, Or That's Your Thing, Baby  

The staging was unusual. On one side of the stage were three non-singing performers, Janet Day, Patrick Sullivan and Murray Paskin who enacted scenes from the folk singer’s story. On the other side were Sankey, who performed all the vocals, and the other musicians. One of the cliche’s of the off Broadway rock musical was that the musicians were never called the ”orchestra” or the ”band”. Instead they were called bizarre names, such as the Strawberry Alarm Clock or the Harpers Bizarre.    

 

The next year, 1968, Sankey played tenor guitar with drummer Gerry Michael and The Bummers, a circa 1880 Commedia dell’Arte style group of cowboys and Indians, at Woodstock. The performers numbered 14 and included a five-piece rock band which, in addition to Gerry, featured his brother Kevin on lead guitar, Sankey on tenor guitar, his wife, Janet, on autoharp and Frank Thumbheart on bass.      

The Bummers flyer - 1968

In 1962, Sankey contributed to the folksongs in the Jonas Mekas film, Guns of the Trees which also featured Allen Ginsberg reading his poetry. The film captures the feel of a particular moment in time, early 1960, and the concerns that seemed important then.        

 

A subsequent production of The Golden Screw was mounted at Toronto's Global Village Theatre in 1972. Directed by Sankey, the cast included Elan Ross Gibson, Francois Regis-Klanfer and Yank Azman with music by Larry Wells (piano) and Fergus Hambleton (guitar).    

 

Tom Sankey won an Obie Award in 1976 for The Golden Screw. This is an award originally given by The Village Voice newspaper to theater artists and groups in New York City.           

Although he was an interesting performer, writer and composer, for some reason Tom Sankey was never heard from again. One of many mysterious tales in musicology. He died on August 26, 2010. He was 77 years old.    

 

   

  

Tracklist:

Side 1:

A1 - Bad Girl - 1:48
A2 - New Evaline - 1:44
A3 - You Won't Say No - 3:14
A4 - The Beautiful People - 2:40
A5 - I Heard My Mother Crying - 4:55
A6 - I Can't Make It Anymore - 3:00
A7 - Jesus Come Down - 2:29

Side 2:

B1 - 2000 Miles - 3:15
B2 - Trip Tick Talking Blues - 2:50
B3 - Can I Touch You? - 2:50
B4 - That's Your Thing, Baby - 2:10
B5 - I Can't Remember - 2:20
B6 - Bottom End Of Bleecker Street - 3:30
B7 - Flippin' Out - Little White Dog - 1:30

Credits:

    •    Arranged By, Producer – David Lucas
    •    Band – The Inner Sanctum (2)
    •    Bass Guitar [The Inner Sanctum], Recorder, Washtub Bass – Frank Thumhart
    •    Design – Loring Eutemey
    •    Electric Guitar [The Inner Sanctum] – Vince Taggart
    •    Electric Guitar [The Inner Sanctum], 12-String Acoustic Guitar – Kevin Michael (9)
    •    Engineer – Adrian Barber, Phil Iehle
    •    Guitar, Kazoo, Harmonica – Jack Hopper
    •    Percussion [The Inner Sanctum] – Jerry Michael (2)
    •    Photography By – Bert Andrews
    •    Sleeve Notes – Bob Rolontz
    •    Written-By, Autoharp, Tenor Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals – Tom Sankey

Notes:

 Stereo version with plum and gold Atco label.

Folk-rock musical which opened Off-Broadway at the Provincetown Playhouse, New York on Jan 30, 1967.

 
Tom Sankey – Tom Sankey Sings The Songs From The Golden Screw
Label: ATCO Records – SD 33-208
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo
Country: US
Released: 1967
Genre: Stage & Screen
Style: Musical, Folk
   

         

Viewfinder link:        

        

Loring Eutemey ~ vinyl LP illustrator/designer         

Harpers Bizarre          

Tom Sankey        

The Strawberry Alarm Clock          

        

Net links:        

        

The Globe & Mail ~ Tom Sankey obit           

University of Florida ~ The Golden Screw          

WoodstockArts ~ Gerry Michael and The Bummers        

        

YouTube links:        

         

The Golden Screw ~

 

      Bad Girl       

      New Evaline     

      You Won't Say No       

      The Beautiful People        

      I Heard My Mother Crying        

      I Can't Make It Anymore         

      Jesus Come Down          

      2000 Miles         

      Trip Tick Talking Blues         

      Can I Touch You?        

      That's Your Thing, Baby       

      I Can't Remember             

      Bottom End Of Bleecker Street        

      Flippin' Out - Little White Dog          

        

         

        

        

        

Styrous® ~ Wednesday, July 28, 2021       
       

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